Holger Rune overcame a stern test from Lorenzo Musetti on Friday to reach his sixth semi-final of the season at the Cinch Championships.

In their first tour-level meeting, the second seed defeated Musetti 6-4, 7-5 after one hour, 54 minutes. Rune won 54 per cent of points behind his second serve, compared to Musetti’s 29 per cent to advance to his first career grass-court semi-final.

“I enjoy it [on grass]. I think I’m starting to play better and better,” Rune said in his post-match interview. “[It’s] getting more challenging in every match and I think my mindset has been incredibly good these three matches. I’ve been able to come from a break behind and stay in the moment.

“Grass is also tough for the body. First few matches, every part of your body has to get used to it, the movement, the upper body, everything. So I was struggling a bit but I’m happy that I could finish and win a match.”

Rune, who received treatment on his right wrist during the opening set, won five consecutive games after trailing 1-4. In the second set, the Dane saved two set points on serve at 4-5.

“I had, since I woke up this morning, some pain in the wrist,” Rune said. “I think grass is so much faster than clay, so if you become a bit late on the ball, or on the serve [return], it’s a lot of pressure on your wrist. That was the case. I took some treatment. It was painful a couple of games after but I feel okay now.”

The 20-year-old Rune, who is yet to drop a set this week, will face Alex de Minaur on Saturday after the Australian defeated Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the last four. De Minaur, seeded seventh, is aiming for his second grass-court title (Eastbourne, 2021).

Should Rune triumph at the Queen’s Club, he would rise to a career-high World No. 5 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

Karen Khachanov has withdrawn from Wimbledon due to a stress fracture he suffered at Roland Garros.

“Hello everyone, this is not an easy statement for me to write, but I have to inform you of my withdrawal from the upcoming Championships at Wimbledon,” Khachanov wrote on Instagram on Friday.

“Due to an unfortunate injury I picked up at the French Open (stress fracture and a partial fracture in sacrum S1 bone), I will not be able to participate at Wimbledon for the second year in a row. The decision to withdraw was not an easy one and I was hoping till the end during these few weeks that I would be able to recover however my medical team ensured me that in my case it wasn’t possible.”

 

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Khachanov has made four appearances at Wimbledon, with his best result a run to the quarter-finals in 2021.

Khachanov had enjoyed a string of deep runs at recent majors, reaching the Roland Garros quarter-finals and Australian Open semi-finals this year and the US Open semi-finals in 2022.

Andy Roddick continued in his role as an expert analyst on Netflix’s Break Point in the newest batch of five episodes to close out Season 1.

The former World No. 1 shared his thoughts on several stars of the show including Nick Kyrgios. ATPTour.com looks at some of Roddick’s most memorable moments from the newest release of the series.

Roddick On Kyrgios
In the first episode of Break Point, Kyrgios partnered close friend Thanasi Kokkinakis to the Australian Open doubles title. In Episode 6, he carried confidence into Wimbledon.

“I don’t know any other person who’s ever won a doubles tournament and went, ‘You know what, now I can win a singles Slam.’ That’s a leap for me,” Roddick said of Kyrgios. “The pressure set is not the same.”

As the series detailed, the Australian put together the best singles performance of his career at Wimbledon, where he advanced to the final of a major for the first time. He ultimately fell short to Novak Djokovic in the final.

“He grew a lot this year,” Roddick said. “I didn’t think he’d ever be able to put it together and make a deep run at a Slam and he almost won Wimbledon.”

Andy Explains Serena’s Aura
Episode 8 revolved around Serena Williams’ evolution away from tennis. Although not directly stated in the show, Roddick has known Williams since the juniors and watched as she became one of the greatest athletes in history.

“Serena puts on a show and has the crowd in the palm of her hand,” Roddick said. “She’s potentially the most intimidating player in history. I mean Venus won five Wimbledons and she is the second-best player in her family. It doesn’t make any sense.”

High Praise For Alcaraz
Break Point followed Frances Tiafoe’s journey to the semi-finals of the US Open, where he lost a thriller to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz. The show painted a daunting picture for the Spaniard’s opponents.

Roddick contributed to that with a short but impressive description of Alcaraz.

“He’s lightning fast,” Roddick said. “The athleticism is through the roof.”

Championship Day At Wimbledon
Roddick reached the Wimbledon final three times, in 2004, 2005 and 2009. The American fell short on each occasion.

But Roddick gained an understanding of the gravitas of Championship Sunday at SW19. As the story built towards Kyrgios’ appearance in the Wimbledon final, Roddick helped set the stage.

“It’s a strange feeling on finals day,” Roddick said. “It has a sense of gravity. You can kind of feel the weight of the history of the game.”

Could Nick Kyrgios go all the way at Wimbledon and win his first major title as a singles player?

That was the main theme of the seventh episode of Break Point, the second of the newly released batch. The episode picked up in the middle of the Australian’s showdown with Stefanos Tsitsipas, which was full of tension. After winning, Kyrgios walked off court and told the Netflix camera crew, “I can’t wait for this press conference bro.”

The pair traded barbs in the media, but all that mattered was that Kyrgios advanced through the draw.

For a talented player who had not always fulfilled his potential, a breakthrough performance seemed within arm’s reach. But perhaps the most intriguing moment of the episode came when the crew filmed Kyrgios — safely through to the semi-finals after defeating Cristian Garin — watching the end of the quarter-final between Rafael Nadal and Taylor Fritz. Interestingly the Australian admitted to preferring a showdown with Nadal, whom he called the “greatest of all time”.

The Spaniard won the match, but withdrew before the semi-finals. Suddenly, Kyrgios stood on the precipice of history, one victory from becoming Wimbledon champion. 

Expert Patrick Mouratoglou said of Kyrgios’ opponent, Novak Djokovic: “Beating Novak at Wimbledon probably the highest mountain to climb for any tennis player.”

Could Kyrgios summit the final peak?

The episode diverted from that storyline to focus on Tunisian Ons Jabeur, who was quickly becoming a superstar. Behind-the-scenes footage showed the photoshoots and commercial opportunities adding up. Jabeur even played doubles with sporting icon Serena Williams in Eastbourne.

“Just a girl from Tunisia”, she quickly became an icon for girls throughout the world. Her husband Karim Kamoun encouraged her to keep dreaming and Jabeur revealed her biggest aspiration.

“I have one dream in my mind now,” she said: winning Wimbledon.

“[It would be] something big for the whole sport in the world,” her husband later said.

Jabeur ultimately fell short to Elena Rybakina, who also eliminated Break Point star Ajla Tomljanovic. But both Jabeur and Tomljanovic showed growth through defeat and despite their tough losses, gained plenty of fans along the way.

The end of the episode focused on Kyrgios’ shot at Djokovic and glory.

“I’m a kid from Canberra,” Kyrgios said. “I’m not supposed to be here. But I’m here.”

The Australian made a perfect start against Djokovic, but it did not prove enough. The Serbian showed his experience in calm and patience, which ultimately allowed him to turn the tide and halt Kyrgios’ title chase.

Nick fell short, but proved that he is more than just potential. Andy Roddick was complimentary of the Aussie.

“He grew a lot this year,” the former World No. 1 said. “I didn’t think he’d ever be able to put it together and make a deep run at a Slam. He almost won Wimbledon.”

Carlos Alcaraz is one of the more experienced 20-year-olds ever to compete on the ATP Tour, his precocious talent already earning him four ATP Masters 1000 titles, a US Open crown and several stints atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

But when it comes to grass, the Spaniard is still green.

Alcaraz entered the Cinch Championships with a 4-2 career record on the slick surface, but he’s now through to his first grass-court quarter-final at The Queen’s Club in London. As he builds his confidence on the lawns, he shared some insight into how he has developed his game.

In addition to watching videos to scout his opponents, Alcaraz has also been trying to emulate the likes of Roger Federer and Andy Murray in their grass-court movement. 

“I want to look up to the best players on grass and movers. On grass, Roger and Andy for me are the best players that are moving great on grass. So I want to be the same, like them,” he said of the pair, who have 10 Wimbledon titles between them (eight for Federer, two for Murray).

Happy to be in the quarters of a grass tournament for the first time! 🌱🤩 Learning and having fun on this surface! 🥸🥳 Let’s go for more! 💥 @QueensTennis

📸 Getty pic.twitter.com/EmMGutX8yO

— Carlos Alcaraz (@carlosalcaraz) June 22, 2023

While he also admires Djokovic’s grass-court prowess, the Spaniard thinks the four-time defending Wimbledon champion’s fancy footwork is a bridge too far, at least at this point in his career.

“I’m not talking about Djokovic because Djokovic slides like [on a] clay court,” added Alcaraz. “[That is] not my case, but I try to put similar stuff in my game that Roger and Andy does in grass.”

Asked to expand on what he’s learned about moving on grass, he explained how it differs from navigating clay and hard courts.

“Moving on grass, as I said a few times, for me is the key of everything on grass. It’s the key if you are playing good or not,” Alcaraz said, noting that he has grown in confidence after two strong matches at the London ATP 500 event.

“You have to be more focused on the footwork here,” he continued. “I can’t slide as I do on clay or on hard court, so you have to know that and, practising from that part, you have to adapt your moves or your hit on grass.”

“Rafa, you put me on tennis!”

Arthur Cazaux developed a love for tennis at a young age, when he was sitting at his home in southern France watching the-then 19-year-old Rafael Nadal compete at Roland Garros.

Little did Cazaux know that the Spaniard would someday become one of the sport’s greatest players and the Montpellier native would be a professional tennis player himself.

Becoming a pro was a childhood dream for the #NextGenATP Frenchman, who is making rapid progress on the ATP Challenger Tour.

“My first tennis memory was when I was three years old and I watched Roland Garros on TV. Nobody in my family played tennis, but I watched Roland Garros with my father and I saw a Rafael Nadal match,” Cazaux told the ATP Challenger Tour media team. “I don’t know why but I was shocked. I fell in love with tennis and Rafael Nadal. Since that day, I’ve played tennis and I’ll never give up.

“I met [Rafa] in 2018 at the Roland Garros gym, I took a picture with him. It was my first junior Grand Slam, and I saw him. I was like, ‘I must take a picture with him!’ It was a big memory. Rafa, you put me on tennis!”

The 22-time major champion Nadal is not the only sporting legend that Cazaux idolises. He is also a big fan of basketball players Stephen Curry and the late Kobe Bryant.

“Kobe was one of my first idols, I was a big fan of his mentality in everything,” Cazaux said. “I tattooed a black mamba on my arm because [of his] ‘black mamba’ mentality.”

Cazaux is part of a promising list of young French stars that are making an impact early in their careers. The 2020 Australian Open boys’ singles finalist is one of three Frenchmen in the Top 10 of the Pepperstone ATP Live Next Gen Race: Arthur Fils (4th), Luca Van Assche (6th), Cazaux (7th).

The 20-year-old Cazaux started the year on a 13-match winning streak (including qualifying) and claimed his second Challenger title in Nonthaburi, Thailand. This past week, Cazaux enjoyed a breakthrough run to the final at the Nottingham Challenger, where he fell short to three-time major champion Andy Murray.

“It was my first week on grass courts, it was a great feeling to play my first professional tournament on grass,” Cazaux said. “It was a long way to the final because I started from the qualies. In the last round of qualies, it was very tough because I played a British wild card [Daniel Cox] and I won 7-6 in the third, it was a tough match.

“I played at a very good level and it was a wonderful week. To reach the final against Andy Murray was the best final.”

Despite playing his first grass-court swing, Cazaux has continued his early success on the surface. On Thursday, he reached the semi-finals of the Lexus Ilkley Trophy after Sho Shimabukuro was forced to retire in the second set.

Cazaux will next meet Australian Jason Kubler in the last four Friday.

Is Andrey Rublev rustling up another deep run at the Terra Wortmann Open? The 2021 finalist booked his spot in the last eight at the grass-court ATP 500 event on Thursday with a 7-6(5), 6-3 victory against Yannick Hanfmann.

Rublev delivered a solid display to hold off the World No. 53 Hanfmann and improve his record in Halle to 8-3. Home favourite Hanfmann had led 5/3 in the first-set tie-break but was unable to push on and forge a repeat of his victory in the pair’s fourth-round meeting last month at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome.

“The important thing was I was able to win against a tough player like Yannick,” said Rublev. “The last time he beat me and he’s playing better and better. Especially on grass, he’s even tougher to play against because he has such a good serve and a good game at the net. I was able to win the match in two sets so I’m really happy.”

Take a bow, Andrey! 👏

🎩 @AndreyRublev97 @ATPHalle | #TerraWortmannOpen pic.twitter.com/xS2v5Idgq3

— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 22, 2023

After winning five of the final six points to claim the first-set tie-break, Rublev carried the momentum into the second second, in which he established an ultimately unassailable 4-0 lead. With the OWL Arena roof closed during the second set to shelter the court from the torrential Halle rain, Rublev pushed on to a one-hour, 39-minute triumph in which he converted three of his six break points.

The World No. 7 will now prepare for his sixth tour-level quarter-final of the season against last week’s ‘s-Hertogenbosch winner Tallon Griekspoor. The 25-year-old Rublev is a 13-time ATP Tour titlist and is chasing his maiden crown on grass this week in Germany.

Griekspoor saved a match point against defending champion Hubert Hurkacz to notch a 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(8) victory and extend his winning run to seven matches. The Dutchman knocked off the sixth seed on his fifth match point, after Hurkacz battled back from 3/6 in the decisive tie-break to move within one point of the quarter-finals at 8/7.

The result levels the pair’s ATP Head2Head series at 1-1 less than one month after Hurkacz downed Griekspoor in five sets in the Roland Garros second round.

Entering Halle at a career-high Pepperstone ATP Ranking of World No. 29, Griekspoor is seeking the third ATP Tour title of both this season and his career.